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Sports marketing is at its peak here, with companies focusing their marketing efforts on signing sports stars for their commercials. Businesses favor athletes over entertainment celebrities, pundits say, partly because sports stars tend to have worldwide appeal but are cheaper than entertainers. Another reason is that this year saw both the Winter Olympics and the football World Cup.
¡ß Global Sports Stars Come to Korea
A number of sports stars are to visit Korea in the second half of this year. Tracy McGrady, a basketball player considered to be in the same league as ¡°Emperor¡± Michael Jordan, arrived here Thursday for a three-day stay, courtesy of Adidas. There will be a press conference on Friday, followed by a signing event and a masterclass at a basketball clinic. McGrady is to attend a ceremony to launch a special basketball shoe named T-MAC 1 limited edition that bears his name.
HyundaiCard, meanwhile, is inviting skating stars to Korea next month. Russian figure skater Irina Slutskaya will be here together with Evgeni Plushenko, gold medalist in the men¡¯s single competition at the Turin Winter Olympics, and Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov, who won gold in the ice dancing competition, from Sept.16.
The there are the tennis players. The world¡¯s no. 2 seed Rafael Nadal will act as a PR ambassador for Kia Motors for the next two years, taking part in auto shows and other events, the automaker said. Martina Hingis will compete in the third Hansol Korea Open on Sept. 23 at the invitation of the Korea Tennis Association. Yelena Isinbayeva, a pole jumper famous for her looks as well as her athletic feats, is to visit Korea in October for the Daegu Athletics Meeting. The half-Korean American football star Hines Ward and the golf prodigy Michelle Wie have already been here this year. The 15-member U.S. basketball Dream Team came here for the Vita 500 World Basketball Challenge on Aug. 11.
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From left: Cho Jae-jin, Lee Seung-yeop, Park Ji-sung, Pak Se-ri and Maria Sharapova.
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¡ß Homegrown Sorts Stars
The sports marketing fever is a boon to domestic sports stars, too. Levi¡¯s signed football player Cho Jae-jin for commercials this month. The jeans maker said it expects sales to grow 250 percent when Cho starts to act as an advertising model for it. Cho, who played ¡°fantastically¡± in the World Cup this year, will especially appeal to young customers, it says. Manchester United striker Park Ji-sung is appearing in LG Electronics and Hite Brewery commercials. National baseball star Lee Seung-yeop is also favored by many Korean companies. Samsung Electronics said Thursday it signed him for its PAVV TV commercials. Lee is also to act as an advertising model for Kookmin Bank for one year and Haitai Confectionery & Foods for six months. CJ is sponsoring golfers Pak Se-ri and Gloria Park who play in the LPGA.
¡ß Why Athletes?
The primary reason is that sports marketing costs less but produces more. A corporate staffer says there is a widespread perception that entertainment celebrities are paid too much for commercials. Another reason is a study that says Hyundai Motor generated the most advertising effects in the 2006 World Cup in Germany. ¡°Sports stars are considered less shallow than entertainment celebrities and make news on TV and in newspapers more often than anyone else,¡± a CJ staffer says.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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